Particularly in the context of installations handling oil and gas, there is typically a need to quickly actuate valves. This is at least in part due to the nature of the material being handled in the installations. Along these lines, there is a need to maintain control over the flow of oil, gas or other materials that could potentially escape from the installations and thereby prevent any possible environmental damage. The desire to control movement of material in such installations may also manifest itself in a desire for redundancy of control mechanisms as well as fail-safe mechanisms.
Typically, known electrical actuators used for actuating valves in subsea oil and gas recovery systems are slow, with a delay time interval of about thirty seconds. Thereby, conventional electric motors are used for the purpose of driving a shaft that, in its turn, actuates a valve or the like. In certain situations, for example emergency situations, a more rapid action would be desirable.